Canadian government: 2nd Moroun bridge won't harm environment

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun has for years been trying to gain approval to build a six-lane, cable-stayed span adjacent (west) to the original four-lane span that opened in 1929.

A controversial $400 million plan to replace the Ambassador Bridge with a new, larger span over the Detroit River has received another governmental clearance — but many more remain.

Transport Canada and the Windsor Port Authority jointly said Thursday they have issued a decision under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act that a replacement bridge and larger Canadian border traffic plaza are unlikely to cause a significant adverse environmental effect.

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun has for years been trying to gain approval to build a six-lane, cable-stayed span adjacent (west) to the original four-lane span that opened in 1929.

Moroun has constructed some of the traffic ramps and plaza in Detroit necessary for a new span, but has been unable to proceed further because of a lack of approvals and legal wrangling.

Manuel Moroun

Analyzed in the Canadian environmental report were the potential effects on air and water quality, wildlife, noise, vibrations, human health, physical and cultural heritage, and several other factors.

"The management and owners of the Ambassador Bridge are very pleased that we have been able to work collectively with Canada to finalize the environmental assessment. This is another step in the process which will lead to the construction of a new twin span of the Ambassador Bridge," the bridge company said in a statement.

Moroun still must get environmental approval for the new span from the U.S. Coast Guard, and a presidential permit from the U.S. State Department.

Moroun has argued he doesn't need the presidential permit because the Ambassador Bridge already exists.

In Canada, the project still requires approval under the International Bridges and Tunnels Act and the Port Authorities Operations Regulations, Transport Canada said.

It wasn't immediately clear what the status is of those other required approvals.

The environmental decision issued this week is based on a submission made by the Canadian Transit Co. — the Ambassador Bridge's business unit in Ontario — in 2006.

The delay in granting it came because the Canadian Transit Co. it didn't submit all the required information, Transport Canada said.

The agency reiterated Friday, in an email to Crain's, that the approval granted this week is for a single new span and not an effort to twin the Ambassador Bridge.

"It is important to note that the EA was based on a 'replacement' span and that, once completed, the existing Ambassador Bridge would be taken out of service," Transport Canada spokesman Mark Butler said.

Moroun has said the original span would be used only for overflow border traffic during major events.

Opposition, lawsuits

There has been opposition in Canada to a new Ambassador Bridge span mainly because of worries about increased traffic around Windsor.

Canada is funding a $2.1 billion effort to build a new bridge, the New International Trade Crossing, about a mile downriver from the Ambassador Bridge. The goal is to have it open by 2020.

Moroun, a Grosse Pointe trucking industrialist and one of Michigan's wealthiest residents, opposes the NITC project as unfair and unneeded government competition that he has said will bankrupt the Ambassador Bridge by taking lucrative commercial truck traffic.

Government-funded studies on behalf of NITC show that it's estimated the new span will take about half of the commercial truck traffic. Michigan and Canada say it's necessary to do so, by building a second span, to ensure there is border-crossing redundancy, to bolster commerce and to create jobs.

Moroun has filed an array of lawsuits over the years on behalf of his bridge effort, and to halt NITC, which already has received its presidential permit.